


Tatoue Moi

by phandomoftheowl



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Crazy shenanigans, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Unimportant Relationship with OFC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 20:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phandomoftheowl/pseuds/phandomoftheowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Did it ever occur to you that maybe flaunting your constant stream of <i>girl</i>friends isn’t a great way to get another guy’s attention, Kise-kun?"</p>
<p>Or, the one in which Kise has too many girlfriends so instead he decides to get a boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tatoue Moi

**Author's Note:**

> For [godspeedimpulse](http://godspeedimpulse.tumblr.com/) who gave the above quote as prompt. I just couldn't resist. It was supposed to be a simple drabble so I have NO IDEA how it ended up being a multi-chaptered fic. Title taken from Mozart Opera Rock's song by the same name.

Ryouta Kise has always known he was pretty. Even before the modelling career and make-up artists and the agents who stared him up and down with blank faces as they made notes in their notebooks, there had been teachers and mothers and aunts who would pull at his cheeks and call him ‘ _precious_.’ There is never a day Ryouta doubts his own attractiveness, and later, as time wears on and he becomes older, he learns to use his face to get what he wants. After all, people are far more likely to forgive an airhead who could pout prettily than they would an ugly one.

A few months after he joins Teiko’s basketball team, a girl comes up to Kise and asked him out. She is shy and quite; pretty enough, he guesses, if you're into the long hair and curvy figure. Aomine is the most encouraging of all his team mates saying things like “Those boobs, Kise!” over and over again, until Kuroko hits him upside the head. Kise, for his part, hides behind Midorima’s lucky item of the day to cover his flushed face.

Kise turns the first girl down, gently of course, but his rejection only seems to open the floodgates for all the girls to come flocking. He hardly ever gets a moments rest during school, especially since his modelling career has boomed. Eventually -- at Akashi’s command because “Your fans hinder practice, Ryouta” was a valid enough reason -- Kise agrees to go out on a simple coffee date with the next girl that asks.

It is highly unlikely he will ever admit it even under the pain of death, but Kise has never been particularly interested in girls. He thinks boobs are all right, not something very praiseworthy, and if he’s entirely honest, he finds it unfair that he has to work so hard to keep his skin soft and smooth whereas some girls don’t even have to try. 

The date goes well enough; Kise tries to be kind and considerate and even walks her back to her house at the end of it, just like his father told him. But then, just as he is ready to say good night and get the hell out of there, he notices her staring intently at Ryouta like she expects something. It takes him a moment to understand that that something is a kiss.

“Er...” He doesn’t want to be rude and tell her he doesn’t want to kiss her -- has never thought about kissing anyone before in his life-- but she is leaning closer and Kise instinctively closes his eyes, convinced that if he doesn’t move a muscle she will stop.

That’s a bit of a foolish dream. Their lips meet in an awkward, too dry kiss that doesn’t send sparks down his spine or any of those cheesy things movies always said you are supposed to feel when you kiss someone. She pulls back first and runs up the steps with a soft giggle, leaving a dumbstruck Ryouta behind.

By the next day, the girl has decided she is Kise’s girlfriend and Kise doesn’t have the heart (courage) to tell her that he doesn’t have time to date anyone right now because working up to being a starting member and keeping up with modelling are the most important things in his life right now. Honestly, it’s a bit of a relief when she leaves him for Haizaki, he’s more upset about losing the starting position anyway. 

Even so, it becomes a routine, going out with girls, that is. At first Kise tells himself it’s because of Akashi, but Akashi hasn’t said anything about how bothersome Kise’s fangirls are. Then later, he does it because it makes his agent happy, and even later, he goes out with them out of habit.

Kasamatsu-senpai is not Akashi, just like Kaijo is not Teiko, and though it throws Kise for a loop, he enjoys the uncertainty of it all. With this new team, he doesn’t know if he’ll always win, or hell, if he will even always be a starting member. These people have no reason to like or trust him, but that lights a spark in him that playing with the others at Teiko never did. He wants to impress his new teammates, yes, but he also wants them to like him for being _him_ and not a member of a all-star team. And there is no one whose admiration he desires more than the captain’s. 

It’s a bit of shock the first time Kasamatsu-Senpai cuts him off with a swift jab to his ribcage, but in his surprise he forgets to be indignant and all that comes out is a quiet giggle. His reaction baffles the rest of the team and only serves to anger the captain even more, earning kick to the back of his knee. 

When he graduates and finds himself at Kaijou Kise keeps up the ruse. To change now would be too difficult and annoying and although it might be obvious to some -- especially his old teammates since Kise had never really made his interest in both girls and boys a secret -- it is just easier to go out with girls. He never has to second guess with them; never has to ask himself whether they are going to punch him or kiss him. And Kasamatsu hits him often enough that Kise doesn't want to add to the humiliation by saying something stupid. 

Ah, Kasamatsu Yukio.

It never occurs to him that mindlessly going out with all these girls might not be a good thing until Kasamatsu Yukio. Although, to assume that this was a conscious realization on Ryouta’s part is giving him too much credit. It’s more like a vague feeling in the back of his mind that Kasamatsu doesn’t particularly like it when Kise has a girl around -- more precisely, he doesn’t like it when Kise has a particular girl around, because really, girls are always around Kise. Whenever he introduces a new girlfriend to the team, Kasamatsu becomes tetchier and more prone to hitting Ryouta. But really, it is convenient if he gets himself a girlfriend because this way at least the others leave him alone for a while.

||=||=||

Ryouta watches as his latest (ex-)girlfriend runs away in tears, wailing insults about Kise every few steps, and sighs. Well, at least she didn’t punch him, so there is that, he guesses. The last one had broken his nose right before a very big shoot and he can still remember the frightening glare of his agent, an experience he would rather not repeat.

He should probably feel sad or upset, but really, all he can think about is how much he will be in if he’s late for practice again. If not a girlfriend, then Kasamatsu-senpai is sure to hit him. At least his captain is kind enough not to hit his face. 

Kasamatsu doesn’t find out until after practice, which when he punches Kise’s face.

“Senpai!” Ryouta wails, slaps a hand to his face and does not look forward to the make-up artist’s glares. He’s sure to have a shiner by tonight.

“Shut up!” Kasamatsu flexes his fist and glares at Ryouta. He turns on his heel and stomps away to yell at some freshman about not cleaning the floor right. 

“You deserve it, bastard, breaking up with girls every week. Don’t you realize how rude that is?” Kobori only sounds resigned and he too leaves, but to save the first years from their captain’s wrath. 

“But she her voice was too high-pitched! It was annoying,” Kise complains to no one in particular. 

He strictly ignores it when one of his fellow first years mutters, “And last week’s voice was too deep.”

Moriyama-senpai helps him stand up and hands him a ice bag. “She was a perfectly nice girl.”

He is last one to leave the showers, as usual, but this time there is no Kasamatsu waiting for him. He had hoped the shower might have cooled his captain’s temper. Disheartened, Kise leaves school by himself and doesn’t head home. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise when he runs into Kurokocchi; he is near his house after all. 

Still, the quiet “Hello, Kise-kun,” startles him more than usual.

“Kurokocchi!”

“You’re quite far away from home.” As always, Kuroko gets right to the point. 

“Ah, yes.” Kise musters up a smirk. “I came here to see you, after all.”

Kuroko stares blankly at him, like he can see through Kise easily, and he probably can. Ryouta was never the enigmatic one on their team. That role was usually filled by Akashi or Kuroko. “Please don’t be annoying, it’s getting dark out.”

“What does that have to do with visiting you!? Can’t I just want to say hi?”

“Kise-kun, you are not here to see me,” Kuroko says with all the confidence of someone who is convinced hundred percent that they are right. 

“You’re right.” Kise kicks at a stray pebble, and mumbles “I think, I may have angered my senpai.”

Kuroko hums, unsurprised, and that would sting Kise’s pride if Kuroko didn’t follow it up with an offer to buy him ice cream. 

One of the things he’s always liked about Kuroko is his ability to stare at someone so intently it seems as if he isn’t looking at them at all. Kise shifts uncomfortably. 

“This is a nice place,” he says finally when it becomes obvious Kuroko isn’t going to offer anything.

“Yes,” he says as if this is the most obvious thing in the world, and continues to eat his cone of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. 

A beat, then, “Kurokocchi?” 

“Does Kise-kun not like the ice cream?” Kuroko asks, pointing at Kise’s more vibrant medley of flavors. 

He waves the question away. “Nothing like that...but --” Ryouta doesn't really know where to start, so he says the first thing that comes to mind, which is, "You know I had a crush on you for a long time, Kurokocchi."

Unsurprisingly, Kuroko does not react in a way most men would. He merely blinks and Kise, once, twice. "Yes."

"Whaaaa! You knew?!" 

"You are not subtle," Kuroko states blandly. 

"Well." Kise cannot really argue with that. He scratches the back of his neck, willing the blush to recede. He wonders how his day turned out to be like this. It was never his plan to tell Kuroko about his embarassing crush like this, if ever. "I never believed you would return my feelings, you see. Which is fine, because it wasn't -- I didn't like Kurokocchi _that much_ \-- and I always thought you and Aominecchi..." Kise catches himself when Kuroko's fingers twitch in annoyance. Right, sore topic. 

"But now there is someone."

"Yes." Ryouta exhales a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "And I don't know if he... He obviously notices me, but he doesn't...or I don't think --"

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe flaunting your constant stream of _girl_ friends isn’t a great way to get another guy’s attention, Kise-kun? Besides, you can be quite frivolous when you have girls around." Before Kise can protest, Kuroko adds, "Maybe you should show this person how you can be off the court with no other girls around.”

"Y-you mean like a date?" Kise asks, a little terrified. He can just imagine his senpai's face if Ryouta were to ask him on a date. 

Kuroko just shrugs, which is not helpful in the least, and stands. "It was nice to see you," he says and leaves the ice cream shop. 

What if, he wonders, what if he was stupid enough to ask his scary senior on a date? Would Kasamatsu even realize it was meant to be a date? Probably not. And at any rate, isn't it a bit presumptuous to assume Kasamatsu might like boys too? Is there any way of confirming? Yes, he knows Kasamatsu doesn't like it when Kise goes out with girls, but that could be just because Kasamatsu is Kasamatsu and gets easily unnerved by girls, especially on the court. There is no way to tell short of going out with another b --

Kise freezes, spoonful of ice cream dripping onto the table. 

He pulls out his phone and messages the only boy he knows is crazy enough to go along with this plan.


End file.
